Column: Read and believe the truth

Friday

Nov 23, 2012 at 12:01 AMNov 23, 2012 at 8:26 AM

“I just can’t help how I feel” is a statement most people say at one time or another.

Alice Cullinan

“I just can’t help how I feel” is a statement most people say at one time or another. Recently I noticed a posting on Facebook by someone who shared that she was bulimic (voluntarily throwing up after eating) and on that particular day she had caused herself to get sick because she felt too full from dinner: “Don’t judge me,” the person also wrote. “This is just who I am.”

There are many different reasons we give for why we cannot be any different than we already are, but are we really that ‘stuck?’ Can it be that we are simply making an excuse for why we don’t really want to change? If we are indeed so helpless to make positive changes in our thoughts, feelings and behavior, why is the Bible filled with admonitions for us to change?

God through His word gives ample advice on how to improve our lives successfully. One of the most powerful things we should learn is the power of our thought life to affect our feelings. What we perceive as true affects us even if we believe a falsehood.

Let me illustrate. One night after dark, I heard the sound of water running and recalled that I had failed to turn off the water on the outside faucet; I had only closed the hose nozzle. Since it was very dark near the faucet and my flashlight battery was not working, I inched my way in the darkness toward the faucet. Earlier in the week a raccoon had attacked our bird feeder, so when I saw a large, round black object on the ground near the faucet, I immediately knew it must be the raccoon, and panic hit my heart! I exited quickly and ran into the house, deciding that the hose was not going to leak enough water for me to merit an encounter with a raccoon! But the next morning, upon further investigation, the ‘round black object’ turned out to be a squirrel guard for the bird feeder that had become dislodged. What I thought was a raccoon was simply a piece of plastic. I had believed something that was not true and felt great fear.

Two areas where most of us fail at correct thinking are the “What if’s” and the “If only’s .” A few examples will help us understand. We ponder: “What if the doctor’s report is bad?” or “What if I lose my job?” And there are these thoughts: “If only I had not done that;” or “If only that had not happened.” When we worry about the future or focus on the past, we ruin the present, the only place we live, really. Most of us don’t realize that we have more control over our feelings than we think we do!

Most of us wish we could be more peaceful, content and joyful, but we settle for worry and anxiety, fear and depression. What can we do? The Bible is clear: stop the destructive thought-patterns! How? Read and believe truth….it works every time!

Dr. Alice Cullinan, professor emerita of religion, Gardner-Webb University, is Spiritual Enrichment Leader of the Greater Cleveland County Baptist Association. She is the author of three books and 19 devotional books.